


The Crawley Trainyards

by J0rd3nn3



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Arson, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 09:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11711367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J0rd3nn3/pseuds/J0rd3nn3
Summary: A short piece in which Ethan dies, Jacob is angsty and Evie just tries to keep it together.





	The Crawley Trainyards

Jacob Frye was exactly four minutes younger than his twin sister, Evie. She wore the title of older sibling proudly, displaying it whenever the opportunity presented itself. She never let poor Jacob - even for a second - act as though he was the eldest. He had come to accept that about his dear sister as he continued to age, eventually taking advantage of his sister's stubborn need to watch him as though the four minutes that separated them made him less capable than she. The twins' father would leave them alone quite often, leaving Evie to care for her brother and make sure they read up on their assassin ancestors. Evie often dived in deep into the retellings of famous assassins like Edward Kenway and Ezio Auditore. She acted out the stories in her bedroom, dreaming of the day her father would take her out into the world and push her to use her quickly growing abilities. Jacob wasn't blind to how engrossed Evie was in the world of Assassins. He often found himself sneaking out into the world, to get a better understanding of how it worked instead of the very black and white world his father always spoke of. 

The older the twins got, the more they dabbled in each of their interests. Evie was always found working beside her father to grow into a better, respectable assassin or her nose in a book older than their father’s great grandfather. Jacob would rarely be found in the comfort of the Frye house or on the field with his sister and father. Jacob would end up at different pubs throughout Crawley and beyond. He picked fights and placed bets, flaunting his cocky personality to anyone who dared to challenge him. Jacob Frye was a man of substance and swagger and he let everyone who crossed his path know, whether they wanted to or not. 

Evie loved her brother dearly, but never understood why Jacob chose to never clean up his act and follow in the footsteps of their father. They had a chance to change the very world they lived in and become common names amongst future Assassins. Why couldn’t Jacob embrace that? She knew Jacob wanted to help people; she had witnessed Jacob helping the poor, defenseless citizens of Crawley on a daily basis. So why not help protect the same people from a threat much worse? 

 

***

 

Evie had been restless all day. She was constantly checking the time, waiting for a familiar face that would never walk through the front door of their lodgings ever again. She felt lonely, moreso since she hadn’t seen Jacob since George sat the both of them down and told them that their father had passed away.  
  
Evie had felt fear poison her heart when she realized just how late into the night it had become. Her brother was still not home. She understood he was upset and she knew Jacob would be off drinking once again, but it was uncharacteristic of him be out this late. She stayed home as late as she could before the fear for Jacob’s safety became overwhelming. She shrugged on her assassin's cloak, and slid her delicate hidden blade onto her wrist, securing it into place by tightening a few straps. She left out the back door, and climbed her way onto the rooftop, deciding the best place to look for her brother would be the local pub. 

Evie’s assumption had proven wrong. Jacob was nowhere to be found. She checked inside and found a number of Jacob’s friends, sharing a few pleasantries before delving into endless questions about her brother's whereabouts.

“He was here, earlier.” One friend had stated. Evie watched as his eyes grew sad just at the mention of her brother. “He wasn’t much for talkin’ though. He just sat down and had a couple a’ pints with the mates in silence. A couple hours into the night, when a few of us started getting a lil’ louder he buggered off mentioning something ‘bout Templars, whatever the hell that means.”

Evie squeezed the friend’s shoulder gently and reassuringly, thanking him for his time and cooperation. Then she was off again, this time with a better sense of where she could find her missing brother. There weren’t many Templars in the town of Crawley, enough for a base or two at most. But one base in particular had stood out to Evie. A rather large factory at the base of the Crawley train yards; the same train yards Jacob and herself would go visit and play around when they were only four or five years of age. A time when their dear old grandmother, god rest her soul, took them in and raised them for a brief period while their father was off tending to his duties as an assassin. Evie remembered when they both found out that their happy place had been overrun by their enemy. Jacob swore on his life that he would kill them all for taking the last happy memory he had and tarnishing it.

Evie knew she was in the right place before she arrived. The smell of smoke had filled her nose, and the glowing orange light slowly growing as she watched from afar. Fear filled her heart again. She couldn’t lose someone else--not her twin. Evie couldn’t be alone through any of this. She herself would not survive the terrible losses. Jacob may be the younger and more irresponsible of the two, but Evie needed him just as much as he needed her. With that thought in mind, she took off in a hurry towards the fire, her pulse beating faster than her feet were running.

A sense of calm washed over her as she saw her staggering brother, standing at the front of the burning building, a beer bottle in his hand. He seemed as though he was admiring a work of art; a smug grin on his face and a devilish glint in his eye that could only be described as pride. Evie’s calm demeanor quickly changed into rage. She jumped down from the building, and ran up alongside her brother who barely acknowledged her presence.

“Jacob!” She had shouted at him.

Jacob finished the beer in the bottle and chucked it against the burning building, letting out a loud shout.

“Is this what you want?! End the Templar reign at any cost, right?!”

Evie grabbed her brother by the arm, quickly glancing around, afraid of being seen. They had always remained hidden; Serving the light from the shadows. Being out in the open like this made her feel exposed and for the first time, vulnerable.

“We must leave, Jacob.”  Evie said.

Jacob scoffed. “Leave? I’m just trying to fulfill Father’s dying wish. Destroying the Templars - risking life and limb for the damn Creed!”

Jacob shrugged Evie’s hand off of him in disgust. “You loved that man more than anything. You followed him, always at his heels. Always so blind!”

Evie’s frustration with her brother prevailed. “Always so careless, Jacob.”

He looked at her with fire in his eyes. “Always foolish,” he spat. “So loyal to a man who was nothing but a hollow figure of a father. Do you really think that bastard cared about us? He sent us on suicide missions--made us kill people! We were never his kids, Evie. We were property of the damn creed; beings born just for their benefit. Expendable. We were children!”

Jacob had picked up another beer bottle and thrown it against the hot brick of the burning building. Evie’s frustration had turned into sadness. There she stood, watching her beloved twin brother spiral downwards into hatred and despair. Evie understood that he and their father never saw eye to eye, but this was something new entirely. Jacob seemed to resent their father, whereas Evie only saw it as Jacob acting out for the sake of attention that he so desperately craved.  She had seen Jacob pull off handfuls of stupid acts. She’d been there for him while he puked out the entire contents of his stomach after wagering all of his shillings that he could drink one man under the table. She was the one who tended to the wounds caused by their father when Jacob wouldn’t listen. She knew they shared a deep bond being that they were twins, but Evie began to question herself as to if she really knew her brother at all.  She let a few moments pass, allowing Jacob to take a swig from another beer.

“He never loved me like he did you,” Jacob claimed, quietly, “He resented me… I killed the love of his life. I would hate me too.”

Evie felt her heart shatter into pieces as he spoke. How could she have missed this internal suffering that Jacob was feeling? 

“You did not kill her, Jacob.” Evie said with her most sincere voice.

“Tell that to Father,” Jacob sighed. “I killed her. I’ve been a killer since the day I was born. You… you look so much like Mother. I understand why Father treated you the way he did; you were the only thing left to remind him of her. He didn’t want to hurt you. If anything happened to you under his watch he probably would have gone mad with grief. You and mother were the only things he held dear in his heart.”

The look on Jacob’s face reminded Evie of their father himself. He used to have that same look of sadness and grief whenever one of the twins asked a question about their mother. When her birthday came around, or their anniversary, their father would often spend the day and night far away, usually coming home the evening with dark rings beneath his eyes and dried blood covering his body. The twins found it best to never ask, but as they got older they started to understand. Their father dealt with his grief in private with rage and violence… much like Jacob himself. As Evie watched her brother, now sitting at her feet, the mysterious relationship between Jacob and their father started to make sense.

“I feel so angry, dear sister.” Jacob states, a small sniffle following. “I thought I would feel relief and freedom now that the filthy dipper is six feet under...but I just feel—”  Tears fall freely from Jacob’s eyes. “The bastard died thinking he was a good teacher, a good man and a good father. He probably died thinking of the bloody Creed.”

Evie stared at her crying brother. She had never not known what to do. She loved her father dearly; she would not be the woman and assassin she is today without him. But it hurt her to see the truth in his and Jacob’s relationship, especially in this way. Unfortunately, what’s done is done.

“You must make peace with yourself, dearest brother.” Evie said with a reassuring smile. She held out her hand to her brother. “You cannot blame yourself for things beyond your control. You need to let go of everything that once was. Father… he’s gone now. You never let him control you while he was still alive, don’t you dare let him control you from the grave. You make your own choices now; you do what you must with our knowledge. I know you will do good, because you are a good person, Jacob.”

Jacob took Evie’s hand and she hoisted him up with ease. She saw that her words gave him the slightest bit of hope that he could be a better version of the man his father molded him into.

“Your wisdom must come from mother,” Jacob said with a small chuckle.

Evie pulled him into a tight hug; something the two of them rarely did. Jacob seemed taken aback at first but gladly embraced her back. The two twins remained that way for a while, it seemed.

“We are on our own now, little brother,” Evie sighed into his shoulder.

“Nothing will come between us, dearest sister. I will always have your back.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just love watching my favs be sad, what can I say? 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! :)


End file.
